A senior police official in Pishva city on the outskirts of Tehran has warned that Afghan migrants, referred to as “foreign nationals” by Iranian authorities, will be arrested, detained and deported from the country.
The official, Akbar Arabi, also urged Iranian citizens not to employ Afghan migrants, particularly those without legal documentation.
“Hiring undocumented migrants will result in legal consequences,” Arabi said in an interview with the Iranian ISNA news agency.
He added that renting homes to Afghan migrants, engaging in transactions, or entering into contracts with them would be considered a violation of the law. The police official emphasized that efforts to detain and deport undocumented migrants would continue with full force.
Afghan migrants in Iran have reported widespread mistreatment, including violence, harassment, and arbitrary detention. Despite repeated calls from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for neighboring countries to respect the human rights of Afghan migrants, forced deportations have continued in both Iran and Pakistan.
Some Afghan women living in Iran have also expressed frustration, stating that while they face the dual threats of deportation from Iran and persecution by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the United Nations office in Iran has remained indifferent to their plight.
